This Lanark County grocery store is reducing prices to fight food inflation
In the midst of record food inflation, one local grocery store in Lanark County is actually cutting prices.
Since the beginning of March, Balderson Village Cheese has been lowering the prices of all its products in store by 15 to 35 per cent.
"I see people in our community, friends of mine, family, people walking into the store that are having trouble putting food on the table for their families. I thought, there's something we need to do about this," says Greg Black, owner of Balderson Village Cheese.
Black is going about it the old fashioned way, phoning up his suppliers and shipping companies to negotiate lower prices. Black says in many cases, the companies he works with were on board to make products more affordable for customers at the end of the supply chain.
"They all came back and said we'll be able to cut five per cent here, a little percent there, this much here, maybe we'll give you free shipping here, and we pass that on right to the customer," Black said.
In some instances, Black says it was removing fuel surcharges from when gas was above $2 a litre that was still on his bill. Other savings came from cutting shipping costs all together.
"Instead of spending $250 on shipping, I spend $80 on gas. That savings from shipping goes right to the customer."
Products like chips have been reduced from $7.99 to $5.99 and hot chocolate from $2.99 to $1.99.
Black has also committed to price matching any products that are found elsewhere at a lower price, and then reducing his price permanently.
While Black is in business to make money and create a living for himself and his family, he says reducing prices hasn't been bad for business.
"Our margins are less, absolutely. We pay our bills, everybody makes a modest paycheque, nobody is hurting."
The small village store owner is hoping his actions prove to big box grocers that steps to reduce food inflation can be made at relative ease.
"It's just the right thing to do," said Black.
"Sometimes you just have to hit the pause button and on that big corporate machine and say we need to stop charging what we're charging."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.